Death toll among B.C.'s homeless population rising, hit 342 people last year: Coroner's report

British Columbia's Coroners Service says there's been a sharp increase in deaths among people experiencing homelessness.

A statement from the coroners service says the deaths of 342 people experiencing homelessness were reported last year, an increase of almost 140 over the past two years.

The coroners service says there were 1,464 deaths of people who were homeless in B.C. in the period between 2015 and 2022, averaging about 183 deaths per year.

Most of those deaths were in Vancouver, Victoria and Surrey, but deaths also increased markedly in Kamloops, Vernon and Nanaimo. Eighty-two per cent of the fatalities were male.

Outreach groups say the numbers from the coroner validate what they have been seeing on the front lines.

"The number of deaths we're seeing and hearing about is staggering,'' said Grant McKenzie, a spokesperson for Our Place Society in Victoria. "We definitely are feeling the impact of the increasing deaths.''

Stephen D'Souza, executive director of Homelessness Services Association of B.C., said he was "shocked but not surprised."

Grant McKenzie, pictured here in 2016, said Victoria's Our Place Society is seeing the impact of more deaths. (Megan Thomas)

"Shocked in just the staggering increase in the numbers of people who are struggling in our communities and who are dying. We can really see the impact of public policy that hasn't met the moment.''

The coroners' report said it defined a person experiencing homelessness as living outdoors in a makeshift shelter, parked vehicle, vacant home, or any other structure not intended for habitation.

It also included people staying in emergency shelters or temporarily with family, friends or at safe houses or transition homes.

The toxic illicit drug supply significantly contributed to the increase, with more than eight of every 10 deaths in the review classified as accidental, the service said.

Toxic drugs contributing to spike

McKenzie said toxic drugs are also contributing to homelessness.

"It just shows that this is an addiction pandemic that we need much better solutions for,'' he said.

Government efforts to find housing for homeless people should also include addiction treatment options, said McKenzie.

Our Place Society provides more than 1,000 meals daily, 400 units of housing, transitional shelter spaces, hot showers, job skills, health care, education and addiction recovery services.

Lisa Lapointe, B.C.'s chief coroner, is pictured at a news conference on Jan. 31, 2023. (Mike McArthur/CBC)

"With this addiction, when you house people, we need to get them into detox,'' McKenzie said. "We need to get them into recovery. We can't leave people in their addiction because that is a straightforward path to the death rate we're seeing.''

D'Souza said the increase in deaths sheds light on the government's failure to take meaningful actions to address the toxic drug supply that prompted the declaration of a public health emergency in 2016.

More than 13,000 people have died of overdoses in B.C. since then.

The B.C. Coroners Service issued a public safety warning Wednesday, saying preliminary results point to more than 200 toxic drug overdose deaths last month, with the average now reaching about seven deaths per day for the past seven weeks.

Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said B.C. was on its way to posting a record number of drug overdose deaths this year.